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Voharinese
Back to Cultures *Government: The people of Folkar Forest live in tightly knit communities led by chieftains. These chieftains owe their allegiance to a single high chieftain who is elected from amongst all the chieftains. *Caste or Class: Classes are very simple in the Folkr culture. There are common folk, who serve as the majority of society and then there is the chieftains and their extended family. *'Slavery:' Slavery is illegal and seen as incredibly wrong by the Folkri, who pride themselves on freedom, even under their chieftains. *Languages: Greenspeak is the most common language in the forest, Rivelsing is spoken by some, but no effective member of society speaks it exclusively. Priestesses speak Treetongue, as do many women who learn it as a child and retain it to some extent into adulthood. *Education and Writing: Every child of the common folk is taught the basics to farm and hunt in the forest, few if any learn to read or write. Common folk who later serve as members of the chieftains council or court often learn to read and write later in life with considerable difficulty. The children of the chieftains family are taught the basics of hunting alongside martial training for boys and religious or theological training for girls. Both genders are taught to read and write in Greenspeak and other languages if necessary or affordable. Girls are often taught Treetongue, the religious language of the Folkr priestesses; even if they do not follow a religious life path many remain literate in it until death. *Narcotics & Crime: Crime in the Folkar Forest is significantly lower than elsewhere in neighbouring regions. This is largely because of the harsh penalty for crimes, a thief in anyone of the regions towns can face hand removal or even death for even pickpocketry. Narcotics in Folkar are fairly restricted with Whiteweed being almost non existent as of yet, only existing in the southernmost edges of the forest amongst smaller villages. The drug Fang Sap is quite common amongst priestesses however, and in the past hundred or so years many of the northern chieftains have begun to take the drug. Outside of the forest, however, very few pockets of the Fang tree exist and as such it has remained largely exclusive to the forest. *Currency: Most people refuse to accept the Tolliran Yome, seeing it as considerably less valuable within the forest. Instead most accept purely gold and silver or operate on the barter system. *Food: *Alcohal: Alcohal is largely imported from the Gorthic lands to the west. Due to the few open farmlands in the forest, crops are almost exclusivly devoted to food production or animal husbandry. In the north at the town of Maes Eirlys beer is produced under the name Eirlys Brew, but it is renowned for it's fowl taste. *Warfare: Warfare is fairly scarce within the Forest, most men owe their allegiance to the High Chieftan and few rebellions have occurred in the realm's long history. Foreign invasion has never occurred, however methods exist to prevent such a event should it occur. Almost every man is trained with the longbow, the spear or the axe and because of this even a small mob of peasants can be a definite threat when outsiders enter the Forest. Most chieftains can muster about two thousand men, the High chieftain can muster about twelve thousand men, but a total of twenty thousand can be raised if needed. *'''Armor & Weapons: '''Leather is almost the only material used in the armour making process. Despite the strength and protection metal offers most of the Folkr people use it exclusively for tools and weaponry. Wooden armour is also worn on some occasions by nobility, however these occasions are purely ceremonial as wooden armour is useless in combat, only serving to provide buoyancy if the wearer is in water. Wooden armour is generally ancient and the ability to make more has been lost to time, only a few remaining craftsmen can still claim to produce it and even they cannot match the quality of the oldest suits. The longbow, the spear and the axe are the most common weapons amongst the common folk with swords and poleaxes being more common amongst nobility or their household guards. *Clothing: Men often wear loosely fitting leather with fur added in the winter months. Cloth is typically reserved for nobility and children. Women more often than not wear similar clothing to their male counterparts with the only differences being the leather is tighter and more fur is worn in winter. Children wear cloth tunics in warmer months and wear small fur coats held together with bone clips in winter. Noble men wear a mixture of fur and cloth often held together with bone or metal clips. Noble women wear a mixed fur-cloth dress or purely green dyed cloth if a priestess, furthermore priestesses wear cowls, but only during daylight hours. Everyone wears leather sandals in summer months and tightly bound fur boots in winter months. *Hair: Men of both noble and common blood often grow their hair long, sometimes including metal rings or bone items in as decoration. Children of either sex are also allowed to grow their hair long, with girls often braiding theirs and boys often leaving theirs untouched. Women of common blood typically leave their hair below shoulder length, or incredibly short; those with longer hair typically leave their hair uncombed and as such look like ragged beggars when they travel abroad. Noble women often wear their hair at the same lengths, with the only difference being they tend comb and brush their hair, a foreign custom from the south which arrived only a few hundred years ago. *Gender & Sexuality: Men are typically seen as the dominant gender, however women are in no way treated unequally, both law and norm allow for women to hold positions in governance and in the current age two of the six chieftains are women. The holy sect of the Folkr society are the priestesses of Terune, a religious order that is exclusive to women, they are often seen as the matriarchs of small villages and towns outside of a chieftain's direct control and and their leader the High Priestess is a respected advisor of the High Chieftain. Homo and Bisexuality are both shunned, however, it is not outright illegal. *Architecture: Folkr architecture is heavily dependant upon wood and forest provided resources. Most structures are built directly into tree trunks and display masterfully crafted wood carvings. Thatch and leaf roofs are the norm. Most houses also include small basements dug amongst the tree roots which are accessible only from the interior of the house, they are used as winter storage. It is a taboo to build a house anywhere other than under a tree, this has led to life being difficult in Maes Eirlys, a Folkr city outside of the forest wear the trees are far sparser. It is very common there to see houses built with saplings loosely tied to one of the supports as a means of bypassing the taboo. Multistory structures do not exist.